The Seeker
by hobbleit
Summary: AU. Sam disappears at the beginning of the pilot so Dean and Jess try to find him. Title is a song by the Who
1. Chapter 1

A/N: This story is taken from a story I wrote called Is it in my Head? I decided to expand the AU.

Disclaimer: I own nothing, just taking what's there and playing with it for my own evil pleasure

The Seeker

Jessica Moore was preparing for a night out on Hallowe'en. Her boyfriend, Sam had been complaining all day about how much he disliked this particular day but that did not dampen her spirits. She was looking forward to going out and celebrating Sam's LSAT score.

"Sam! Get a move on would ya," she called coming out of the bedroom. Something was wrong, she could tell. Sam was nowhere to be seen. "Sam? Where are you? Come on, this isn't funny," she called, feeling increasingly annoyed at her absent boyfriend. But he didn't appear. He was gone. Noticing a piece of paper folded on the table; Jess picked it up, opened it and began to read. She felt her legs give out under her in shock when she saw what it said.

_Jess,_

_I'm sorry but I have to leave, it's for your own safety._

_I don't want you to get hurt. I hope you'll understand._

_Love,_

_Sam_

Sam had gone. She was confused at what he meant. Why was he leaving her for her own safety? It didn't make sense. Running to the bedroom, she picked up her phone and dialled Sam's number. She waited anxiously for him to pick up but he didn't. She heard the phone buzzing; he hadn't even taken it with him. Feeling confused and alone, Jess sat down on the bed and started to cry.

She hadn't even realised that she had fallen asleep when she was woken by a crash. Fear took over the sadness as she quietly grabbed hold of the baseball bat and crept to see what the hell was going on.

Jess could make out the dark shadow of a tall man, though not as tall as Sam. She made her way silently across the room; not wanting him to hear her before swinging the bat round. He gave a cry of pain as it connected with his back. She hit him again so he fell to the floor then she turned on the light and grabbed the phone; ready to phone the police.

"What the hell?" The man groaned.

"Don't even think about getting up," she told him with more bravado than she actually felt. "I'm going to call the police."

"Don't call the cops; I'm not going to hurt you. I just came to see my brother."

"Sam?"

"Yeah."

"You're Dean?"

"I am," he was confused now as well as in pain. "Can I stand up?"

"Ok," she didn't put the bat or the phone down as he slowly pulled himself to his feet. It was only now that she could get a good look at him. Dean was several inches shorter than Sam but he was wider. He wasn't fat though, it was mostly muscle. He wore a pained and confused expression on his face. "I'm Jess."

"I know," Dean said cheekily.

"How do you know that?"

"I check up on Sam. He doesn't know I do but I swing by every once in a while, make sure he's okay."

"Sam isn't here, you know?"

"What do you mean he isn't here? Where is he?"

"I don't know," she admitted. "He took over earlier. Left a note but didn't say where he was going."

"What did the note say?" Dean asked.

"That he was sorry but he was leaving for my own safety. Here," she handed him the note, "read it for yourself." Dean looked at the note and his expression changed from confusion to alarm. "I'm guessing from the look on your face you don't know where he's gone."

"No," he confessed quietly, so quietly she nearly didn't hear him. "This isn't good," he told her.

"What do you mean?" There was a note of alarm in her voice.

"I came here to see Sam because our dad had gone missing and I find out that he's taken off too," he said as he sat down on the chair; his legs didn't seem to be able to hold his weight. Jess finally put the phone and bat down and made her way over to him, sitting down next to him.

"Your dad's missing?"

"Yeah, about three weeks ago."

"Do you think they're connected?" Jess already knew what he was going to say and she really didn't want to hear him say it out loud.

"I think they are."

"What was you're dad doing when he disappeared?"

"How much do you know about our family? About what we do?" Dean asked. He was fairly sure that Sam had told her nothing but he wanted to hear her say it.

"Not a lot," Jess admitted. "He doesn't really talk about you that much."

"I didn't think so."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Nothing," Dean sounded defensive. "I just didn't think Sam would have told you, is all," he paused for a moment before continuing. "You're probably not going to believe me when I tell you this but my father and I hunt evil," he confessed to her.

"What?" She didn't believe him, he could tell by the tone of her voice.

"We hunt evil, spirits mainly. Dad was on a hunt when he disappeared.

"You're right. I don't believe you."

"Just here me out okay?" She nodded so he continued. "My mom died when Sam and I were small."

"I know that."

"She died because something killed her."

"I thought she died in a fire," Jess said.

"There was a fire," Dean continued his story, "but something attacked my mom first. My dad found her pinned to the ceiling before the fire started. Ever since my dad has been trying to find out what killed her."

"So you go around killing ghosts."

"Yes," he gave a mirthless grin. "Wait here, I have something I want you to listen to, I'll be right back." Dean left the building and re-appeared a couple of minutes later with several leaves of paper and a small black tape recorder.

"What are those?" She thought she would regret asking.

"This was what my dad was doing before he vanished," he handed the papers to Jess who flicked through them. They were newspaper articles about men who had mysteriously disappeared over a twenty year period. She glanced up at Dean, who was waiting for her to finish so he could continue. "He went to Jericho, California and I didn't hear from him for three weeks until yesterday when I got this message," he played her the tape recording. It was heavily distorted with static.

"What is that?" She asked

"The static? It's EVP?"

"What's that?"

"Electronic Voice Phenomena," she still looked confused. "White noise," he elaborated.

"Like the movie?"

"Yeah, like the movie. Anyway, I slowed the message down, and ran it through a Gold Wave took out the hiss, and this is what I got," Jess heard a woman's voice;

"_I can never go home."_

"Never go home?"

"Yeah. I came here to see Sam because I thought dad was in danger and I wanted him to help me look for him."

"But now Sam has vanished and you think the two are connected," she finished for him.

"That's right. I'm gonna go to the last place I know dad was and see if he left any trace behind," Dean stood up again and prepared to leave.

"Wait," Jess called. "I'm gonna come with you."

"What? No you're not coming with me, it could be too dangerous."

"I don't care," Jess insisted adamantly. "I'm coming with you. Sam might be in danger and I'm not just going to sit around and do nothing."

Dean had to admire her pluck. A few minutes ago she didn't even believe that spirits were real and now she was obstinately refusing to be left behind. He gave her a huge grin and said;

"You know, I think I know why Sam likes you so much. You can come but you gotta get changed first. A hunt is no place for a naughty nurse." Jess looked down at her Hallowe'en costume. She'd completely forgotten she was still wearing it.

"It was for Hallowe'en," she explained. "We were supposed to go to a party."

"I bet Sam was happy about that. He hates Hallowe'en."

"I know," she gave a small smile. "I'll just go and change and then we can head out."

John was no longer in Jericho. Dean realised that when the cop threw his journal at him. The co-ordinates he left pointed to Colorado; which was where Dean was planning on heading next. Jess had been a little freaked out to find out that ghosts were actually real, especially when she had seen one first hand. They had destroyed the woman in white and Dean took Jess back to Stanford.

"How do you know your dad will be there?" Jess had been quiet for most of the journey back. She was miserable that they hadn't found Sam ad she didn't want to go back without him.

"I don't," Dean admitted, "but I have to go."

"Let me come with you," she pleaded.

"I can't, it's too dangerous. You're not a hunter; Sam would kill me if anything happened to you."

"But I want to help you find him."

"I will call you if I find anything," he said as he pulled up outside her home. "I promise."

"Okay," she gave in and stepped out of the car. "Goodbye."

"Goodbye," he gave her a small wave as he pulled away, leaving her standing there alone and afraid.

Jess unlocked the door and made her way back to her bedroom. All she wanted to do was curl up in bed and cry for a week. She felt useless; Sam was missing and Dean wouldn't let her help. Wallowing in her misery, she heard a noise in the bedroom. Panicking once again she turned to run but it was too late. Whatever it was knew she was there. It said nothing as it moved towards her and threw her against the wall without ever touching her. Jess gave out a cry of shock and pain as she felt herself being lifted from the ground. She was going to die, she knew it and no matter how hard she struggled she couldn't free herself.

Dean burst through the door, shotgun in hand and fired several rounds at the dark figure. They did nothing to hurt it but he succeeded in distracting it long enough for it to let go of Jess and she went crashing to the floor. The dark figure disappeared as Dean ran over to her and helped her to her feet. Then the room burst into flames.

"Come on," Dean yelled, "we gotta get out of here." He grabbed hold of Jess and led her out of the building.

Jess leaned quietly against the bonnet of the Impala; not wanting to say anything. She was exhausted by the events of the last few days and didn't know how much more she could take. She saw Dean return to her from talking to the Firemen.

"You okay?" He asked; his voice full of concern.

"Not really," she confessed. "It hasn't been the greatest of weeks."

Dean gave a small laugh, "No it really hasn't."

"What happens now?"

"I go to Colorado just as I planned," he leaned against the bonnet next to her. He didn't touch her but just knowing he was stood there next to her made her feel safe. It was the same feeling she got with Sam.

"I'm coming with you."

"I though we already discussed this."

"That was before I was nearly killed. I want to find Sam and I'm coming with you whether you like it or not."

"You're very pushy when you want to be, you do know that?" It was Jess's turn to smile this time. "It's too dangerous," he argued. "You can't fight."

"Then you can teach me. I'm not taking no for an answer so you might as well let me come."

"Fine," he gave in, "you can come. And I'll teach you to fight."

"Thank you."

"You probably won't be saying that for long, it's going to get pretty ugly."

"I understand," she replied, "and I'm ready for whatever happens."

"Besides," he told her. "You coming with me is probably the best way to keep you safe." Dean moved off the hood and opened the door of the Impala. "Come on, we've got work to do."


	2. Chapter 2

The Seeker Chapter Two

Dean's dreams were troubled. They had been ever since Sam had disappeared. They mostly revolved around moments in their lives that had actually happened but his sleeping mind twisted into something horrible. Memories where he had saved his little brother's life changed so that instead of saving Sam, Dean watched him die.

Tonight, Dean was watching his brother being attacked by a spirit. Despite knowing that Sam had not been killed by this spirit; Dean could do nothing but watch his brother being torn limb from limb by a ghost long since destroyed. He woke with a start; gasping for air, with sweat dripping down his face. He looked over at the other bed and saw that Jess was not in it. Looking around the room he saw her sitting at the table poring over his father's journal.

"What time is it?" He asked, sleepily.

"Around four in the morning," she replied without looking up.

"Have you had any sleep?" His voice was laced with concern. No matter how bad his dreams had been of late, Jess's had been twice as bad. She never slept more that a couple of hours before being woken up by the nightmares. Dean didn't know how he could help her though, as she refused to tell him what they were about.

"Yeah, I slept for a couple of hours but I woke up and thought I might as well do some reading."

"You know, one of these days you're going to have to tell me about these dreams of yours."

"I will when you do," she retorted.

"Fair enough," he said, climbing out of bed and sitting at the table opposite her. "It isn't healthy though," he continued, "you need to get some rest."

"I just want to be prepared," she quietly admitted.

"Jess, there's being prepared and there's hurting yourself. The way you're going, you're going to crash," he gently told her. "You've been training everyday, you spend all night reading the journal and I'm worried about you."

"I can't just sit around and do nothing. We've been looking for Sam for weeks and so far we've heard nothing. I can't just sit around and do nothing while my boyfriend is god knows where."

"And you won't be able to help him if you get hurt. If you don't rest then one day something's going to get you."

"You don't have to look out for me you know, I can look after myself."

"Yes I do," Dean told her. "If anything happens to you I'm pretty sure Sam will kill me. Come on," he said gently, "go back to bed and get a few hours sleep."

"But I don't want to have any more nightmares," Jess whimpered.

"I know, but you can't stay awake forever," Dean gently lifted Jess to her feet and led her back to her bed. She stopped resisting him and let him pull the covers over her. He gripped her hand in his and squeezed it for a moment before going back to his own bed. Jess finally gave in to her tiredness and let the wave of sleep wash over her.

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When she woke up she could hear Dean talking on the phone; speaking quietly so he did not disturb her.

"You're sure about this?" He asked the person on the other end. "When was this? Uh huh, two days ago. Yeah; we'll be there as soon as we can, thanks for the information."

"Who was that?" Jess asked when Dean hung up. He jumped slightly; he had no idea that she was awake.

"It was a lead," he told her, regaining his composure. "Someone saw a man fitting Sam's description in a town a couple of hours away. We should go and check it out."

"Well, let's get going then," Jess sprang out of bed, feeling more hopeful than she had in weeks. The search for Sam had gone cold immediately after he had disappeared and this was the first solid lead they had had since.

After dressing and quickly packing up their belongings they were on the road. Jess curled up in the seat and tried her best to drown out the music Dean was listening to. The optimism of earlier had quickly faded and now she was left with an uneasy feeling in her stomach.

"Are you okay?" He asked as he glanced over to her.

"Yeah, just got a headache," she murmured. Dean took the hint and turned the music off.

"Is that better?"

"Yeah. Dean, can I ask you a question?"

"Sure, ask away."

"What do we do if we get there and it wasn't Sam that those people saw?"

"Then we keep on looking. He has to be out there somewhere," he tried to reassure her. "What happened? You were feeling so optimistic before."

"It's just, we haven't heard anything in weeks and every time we go somewhere new I start getting my hopes up and he'll be there," she explained. "But he never is and I always end up disappointed. I just can't help feeling that we'll never find him."

"We will find him," he promised.

"But what if we don't? And don't give me any crap saying we will, tell me the truth."

"The truth is I don't know," he answered honestly. "At this point in time I'm just living in the vain hope that it will be him."

"I wish I could do that too," Jess admitted briefly before changing the subject. "So, how far are we away now?"

"We're almost there, shouldn't be too much longer," Dean pressed the accelerator harder and they sped off to their destination.

The town they arrived at was depressing to say the least. The weather didn't help any; being grey and miserable, with rain drizzling making everything seem darker than it should. The first thing Dean did was find a motel for them to stay at. He wanted to get moving and ask around about Sam as quickly as he possibly could.

Jess decided to stay in the room rather than go with Dean to ask around. Dean couldn't help but be worried about her, she seemed so depressed and dejected but he didn't have any idea about how to make her feel better. Walking into the only bar in the town, Dean immediately made his way over to the pretty blonde waitress.

"Hi," he greeted her.

"Hello there, what can I get you," she said flirting slightly.

"I just want some information," he got straight to the point. "I was wondering if you had seen this guy around in the last couple of days," he said hopefully as he handed her a recent photo of Sam.

"Why are you looking for him?" She enquired.

"He's my brother. He disappeared several weeks ago and I'm worried about him. Please, can you tell me if you've seen him?"

"Sure I've seen him," she told Dean who immediately brightened.

"When?"

"He was here last week, just left a day or so ago. I only saw him a couple of times but you should ask the pretty blonde thing he spent most of his time with; she's still here."

"Where can I find her?"

"She's staying at the motel. Her name's Meg or something like that. Talk to her, she might know where he went to."

"Thank you so much," Dean thanked and rushed off to tell Jess.

Jess looked up from John's journal when Dean burst through the door.

"Guess what," he said by way of a greeting.

"Hello to you to," she said back; voice filled with sarcasm. "What?" She played along with him.

"Sam was here."

"You're sure?"

"Yep, asked the waitress at a bar, showed her a picture. She said he was here a week ago and only left about a day ago."

"Did she say anything else?" Jess asked hopefully.

"That we should ask a girl who's staying here because they spent a lot of time together."

"Oh," she deflated.

"Oh?" Dean didn't quite get it.

"He spent a lot of time with her," she said sadly. Then Dean clicked as to what she was getting at.

"Jess," he said gently as he moved to sit next to her. "I'm sure that's not what she meant."

"Yeah it's exactly what she meant."

"Let's go ask this girl first, it might turn out to be something completely innocent."

"Thanks for trying to put my mind at rest, but we both know it's probably true."

"Well, let's go talk to her anyway," he said as he stood up and pulled Jess to her feet. "I got her room number from the woman at the desk."

"How did you manage that?"

"How do you think?" Dean said raising his eyebrows. Jess laughed.

"Dean Winchester, you are one hell of a flirt, you know that?"

"Of course I do," he replied laughing as they made their way to Meg's room.

Dean knocked several times on the door before she answered. She opened the door wearing only a small towel and an annoyed look on her face.

"What?" She demanded. "Can't you see I'm busy?"

"Uh, hi," Dean greeted. "We were just wondering if we could talk to you about my brother, Sam. The waitress at the bar said you spent some time with him," Meg immediately brightened at the sound of Sam's name.

"Just give me a minute to get dressed," she said before closing the door. She reopened it a few minutes later fully clothed. "Come on in, I'm Meg."

"I'm Dean," he introduced himself, "and this is Jess."

"What do you want to know?"

"Anything," Dean admitted. "How did you meet him?"

"We were both staying here. I was passing through on my way to California and he convinced me to stay a little while."

"How was he?" Dean asked, the anxiety growing in his voice."

"He was fine. A little distracted but I soon put that right."

"What do you mean?" Jess asked in a small voice; it was the first time she had spoken since they had entered the room.

"What do you think I mean?" Meg retorted treating Jess like she was simple. "If you want it in plain English, we had lots and lots of sex."

"I don't believe you," Jess angrily told her.

"Well, it's the truth. I can't help it if your boyfriend can't stay faithful," she sneered. Jess approached Meg and gave her a slap on the face before storming out of the room.

"That wasn't a nice thing to say," Dean warned.

"I can't help it if it's the truth," she told him with a hurt tone in her voice.

"Where's Sam now?"

"I don't know. He left a day or so ago. He said he would be back but I don't think he will be."

"Okay," Dean uttered as he made his way to the door, "Thanks."

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Dean found Jess sat on her bed sobbing he heart out. He quietly closed the door and sat down next to her, not really sure how he could comfort her. She leaned into him and he put his arms around her while she cried into his chest. It took a while before Jess calmed down enough to speak.

"I hate him," she gasped through sobs.

"No you don't, you don't even know if she was telling the truth," Dean tried to reassure her.

"She was I just know she was."

"She could have been lying to get to you."

"You think?"

"Yeah, it could happen."

"Thanks for trying to make me feel better but I don't believe you. We both know it's true so just stop pretending; I don't have the energy."

"Ok," Dean held her for several more minutes before asking, "What do you want to do now?"

"What do you mean?" She asked as she looked him directly in the eyes.

"Should I take you back to Stanford?"

"No," she replied after a moments thought. "I still want to find Sam. I want to hear his side of things and if she was telling me the truth then I have the overwhelming urge to punch him in the face." Dean gave her a smile.

"Okay, we'll keep looking."

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Meg walked into the bar and found the pretty blonde waitress clearing up for the night.

"You know," she said; startling the poor woman. "You should have kept your mouth shut. It might have saved you."

"What do you mean?" The woman asked, fear filling her voice.

"Pointing the Winchester in my direction. You shouldn't have done it." The waitress looked into Meg's eyes but saw nothing but black. She tried to run but Meg easily overpowered her and slit her throat. She let the blood pour into a cup before stirring it with her finger and speaking to something.

"Yes, they have no idea. They think he's long gone. No they won't find him I promise. I'll keep him away. He'll be ready when the time comes."


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: This chapter is basically just some Dean and Jess bonding. Except for the end**

**Disclaimer: I still don't own Supernatural**

The Seeker Chapter Three

Dean gave out a sharp yell as he was thrown across the cemetery by a pissed off spirit.

"DEAN!" Jess screamed and quickly made her way to his side. "Are you okay?" She asked as she helped him to his feet.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Nothing really hurt," he assured her.

"You didn't hit your head?" She sounded concerned.

"No, its fine," he knocked on his head to prove to her that everything was fine.

"Like anything could penetrate that hard head anyway," Jess laughed.

Dean and Jess had been hunting together for a few months now and had settled into a comfortable rhythm of hunting evil and searching for Sam. They had travelled far and wide but the trail for Sam had grown completely cold so they concentrated on killing as many evil things as they possibly could. Jess had begun to enjoy Dean's company; with him everything seemed a lot less bleak. She still missed Sam terribly but with Dean it became a lot more bearable.

"Enough with the taunting, let's get on with burning this son of a bitch," he laughed. However, the spirit had other ideas and as they made their way back to the grave it attacked again, this time going after Jess. Dean span round when he heard Jess gave a shriek of pain. "JESS!" He yelled as she crashed into a tree with a sickening thud. Grabbing the salt and lighter fluid he made quick work of the spirits bones and as they burned he ran over to Jess to see how she was.

Jess was unconscious with blood running down her head and wouldn't wake up when he gently shook her.

"Jess?" He called softly. "Jess, come on and wake up," he panicked. She wouldn't wake. Gently, he scooped her up into his arms and carried her to the Impala before zooming off to the nearest hospital.

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Dean sat for hours waiting for the doctors to tell him what was going on. A sick feeling had settled in his stomach and he felt wholly responsible for what had happened to her.

"Mr. Moore?" The doctor asked in greeting. Dean had told them that he was Jess' brother in order to stay with her.

"Yes, how is she?"

"Your sister is going to be fine. She has a mild concussion and we're going to keep her in overnight for observation."

"Can I see her?"

"For a few minutes, visiting hours ended a while ago."

"Thank you," he said as the doctor led him t the room Jess was staying. She was asleep when he arrived and looked so weak and pale. She stirred when he placed his hand over hers.

"Hey," she whispered weakly.

"Hey," he replied quietly. "You feeling okay?"

"I feel fine," she murmured. "Just got a little headache."

"Get some rest; I'll see you in the morning."

"Night Dean," she said as she closed her eyes and settled down.

"Night Jess," he gave her hand a gentle squeeze and left her to rest.

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"How's your head?" Dean asked for what seemed the thousandth time as he helped Jess from the Impala and into the room.

"It's fine, just like the last time you asked ten seconds ago," she was becoming increasingly annoyed at his concern and just wanted him to stop treating her like a complete invalid.

"I'm just making sure. You scared the hell out of me last night."

"You don't have to worry about me."

"But I do," he paused for a moment before continuing, "and that's why I think you should go home."

"No," she told him bluntly. "I'm not leaving."

"Jess, I'm not arguing with you about this you are going home," he was adamant.

"Yeah; you said that before and look what happened, I nearly died. I am not leaving you and that's final."

"Why do you want to stay with me?" He asked uncertainly.

"What do you mean?"

"Being with me is just going to get you killed, so why do you stay?"

"Apart from wanting to find your elusive brother, I feel safe with you."

"So safe you spent last night in hospital," he said miserably.

"Dean, look at me," she lifted his head so his eyes met hers. "Don't put yourself down, okay? You make me feel safe, like Sam made me feel safe. So until we find Sam I'm going to stay with you. Besides," she continued, "it's never boring."

Dean gave a small laugh, "that's true."

"We're you always this overprotective with Sam?" She asked as she lay down on the bed and made herself comfortable.

"You already know I'm going to say yes, so why ask?"

"I just wanted to know."

"I miss him," Dean quietly admitted to her."

"I miss him too. Tell me about him," she asked him.

"What do you want to know?" He asked as he lay down on the bed next to her.

"Anything, just tell me some stories."

"We used to play pranks on each other. One time I put Nair in his shampoo, it was so funny."

"That's just evil," Jess exclaimed.

"It took months for his hair to grow back properly," he gave a huge grin at the memory.

"I'm not surprised. I take it he wasn't happy."

"No, he didn't speak to me for days. But it was still funny," his tone turned serious. "But I always looked out for him. He was my responsibility and I always tried my hardest to keep him safe."

"Why didn't you guys talk for so long?"

"It wasn't my choice," he admitted. "I tried to call him but he never answered."

"Why?"

"He and dad had this huge fight before he left. Dad didn't want Sam to go to college and when he left, dad said that he shouldn't come back."

"What did you want?"

"I wanted Sam to be happy. That's all I ever wanted. But he and dad never really saw eye to eye about anything. They spent his teenage years yelling at each other."

"And you spent that time stuck in the middle?"

"Yeah, I just wanted us to all be a family."

"Must have been hard for you," Jess said and Dean looked at her as if he had never even considered that.

"I never thought of it that way. I only ever thought how it affected dad and Sam."

"Why do you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Never think of yourself. You spend all of you time worrying about and protecting other people but you never think of yourself."

"I never have, it's always been about Sam," Dean looked sad so Jess moved closer to him and out her arm around his chest. "I just want to find him and for him to be okay."

"I know you do, I want that too. Even though there is the huge possibility that he cheated on me, I just want to know that he's okay. Mostly so I can kick the crap out of him," she smiled and Dean managed a small laugh, "but also so I can put my mind at rest."

"You still having nightmares?" Dean asked.

"Sometimes, not as much as before but they still scare me so much."

"Are you ever going to tell me about them?"

"They're mostly of Sam dying, but sometimes Sam is hurting me."

"How is he hurting you?" Dean asked with fear and concern in his tone.

"He's torturing me. I'm pinned up against a wall and he's hurting me. Those are the worst ones; they're the ones I can never sleep after having."

"I wish this had never happened. I wish Sam was still with you and you were both living safe lives. I just wish he was here."

"Me too. But we will find him, I know we will."

"Just so you can kick the crap out of him?"

"Just so I can kick the crap out of him," she affirmed. "Then I'll probably forgive him."

"Jess, Can I ask you something?"

"Sure, go ahead."

"How did you meet Sam?"

"I met him in the library."

"Why doesn't that surprise me?" Dean said with a smile.

"Hey," she slapped his chest gently. "He was so cute, always there with his books. It took me weeks to get his attention. It turned out he liked me too but he was too shy to ask me out."

"That sounds just like Sam."

"But then he did ask me out and we went for coffee. We spent ages talking," she spoke fondly at the memory. "And it just progressed from there."

"Do you see a future with him?"

"I did when he was there. I always imagined us getting married and having kids; you know the whole white picket fence fantasy."

"But you don't now?"

"It's not that I don't think about it; because I do. It's just that now I can't see the light at the end of the tunnel, I can't see us ever finding Sam so the dreams has somewhat diminished."

"But you just said…"

"I was being optimistic when I said that," she explained, "and trying to make you feel better. Most of the time I can make myself believe that we'll find him and everything will be okay; but lately I can't help but think that we never will."

"Because we haven't heard anything in weeks," it wasn't a question.

"Yeah," she agreed. "I think I'm going to sleep now, I'm feeling tired," she said yawning.

"Okay," he detangled himself from her embrace and stood up. "You rest; I'll go and find food."

"That sounds good."

"Sleep well."

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Meg was bored waiting for his arrival. She had spent days holed up in this pokey little room and wanted nothing more than to go out and kill someone. But she had to keep Sam away from Dean and Jess so that meant hiding from sight. She was fairly certain that they had lost Sam's trail but that was because they had never left the town he was last seen in.

She kept him drugged. It was easier that way at the moment. She had yet to totally convince him to join them, to leave behind everything he had known and embrace his dark side. He still had moments of lucidity where he wanted to go back to Jess; which annoyed Meg to no end. Human emotions sickened her. He was lying motionless on the bed like he had been for the past several days and probably would for many more days.

She had taken great pleasure in telling Jess that she had slept with Sam, Meg thought she was a whiney, pathetic human. Of course it was a lie but Jess was never going to know that. Sam would be hers; on the side of evil, she just needed to get rid of Dean and Jess.

There was a knock at the door. Meg answered it and a man walked in. He was tall, dark and very handsome.

"Nice body," she commented.

"Thanks," he replied. "He screamed as he died."

"Nice to know," she smiled at the shapeshifter. "I need you to do something for me."

"Why would I want to help a demon?"

"Because this demon will pay you a hell of a lot of money."

"You're talking my language," he gave a malicious grin. "What do you want me to do?"

"I want you to solve a little problem I have," she handed him photographs of Dean and Jess. "I want you to get rid of these two meddling humans."

"I can do that."

"Good, the sooner, the better."

"May I ask why you want them out of the way?"

"We have plans for that man on the bed," she gestured over at Sam, "and those two could very well scupper our plans. If they're dead then he will turn a lot quicker if they're alive. "Just be sure to bring me the bodies."

"That shouldn't be a problem. I'll get right on it," he told Meg and she laughed.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Thanks for the reviews. glad you're enjoying it. This is probably the last update for a couple of days because I need to figure out what the hell the next chapter is going to be about.**

The Seeker Chapter Four

"It's a Shapeshifter," Dean told Jess as they watched the security tape.

"How do you know?" She curiously asked.

"See the eyes?" Jess nodded. "See how they flicker in the camera?" She nodded again. "That's how I know it's a Shapeshifter."

"Well, that's not good," Jess commented. "It could be anyone now."

"That's very true. We're gonna have to narrow it down."

"How will we do that?"

"I have no idea."

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They didn't know that the Shapeshifter was watching them. It had been following them for weeks now, watching their every move and waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike. Deciding now was the ideal time to strike; it had set a trap for them to fall into, bringing them here to investigate a spate of murders.

It stared at them through the motel window and smiled as they pieced everything together. It was almost time for the shifter to makes its presence known; it just had to wait a little longer.

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"There's been another killing," Jess raced through the door; placing two cups of coffee on the table and waking Dean in the process.

"Wha'?" Dean replied, slightly annoyed at having been woken up so early.

"There's been another killing. Hurry up and get ready, we have to go."

"Huh?" Dean asked, his half asleep brain not really taking in anything Jess was saying.

"Killing. Shapeshifter. Get up," she hit him on the shoulder and he groaned as he sat up.

"Who? When? Where?" He wasn't ready to use any words longer than one syllable. He clambered out of bed and made his way over to the coffee. Taking a sip, he smiled contentedly.

"Lisa Evans was murdered by her husband, Phil last night. Cops caught him on the home security camera. The thing is; Phil claims he wasn't home at the time of the murder, says he was with his mistress who has mysteriously disappeared."

"How did you find that out? It's six in the morning."

"I overheard it when I went to get coffee," she said casually, brushing off the fact that she had been up so early. "Then I saw it in the morning paper," she threw a copy at Dean who caught it and read the story."

"Have you noticed something about the killings?"

"No, what?"

Dean stood up and grabbed the newspaper clippings from the previous murders. "Where all the murders have happened, they're all in the same area." Jess looked over Dean's shoulder at the reports.

"So you think the Shapeshifter is somewhere in the area?"

"I do," he confirmed. "I think we need to search the sewer system; it's probably made its lair down there."

"So what's the plan?"

"We load up with guns and silver bullets in case we find it and search the sewers."

"Lovely," Jess replied sarcastically, "just how I wanted to spend my day." Dean could only grin at the look on her face.

"Just sit down and drink your coffee," he laughed, "We'll start the search tonight."

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"That is disgusting," Jess commented at the slimy pile of human skin lying on the sewer floor. "I think I'm going to be sick."

"I'm right there with you," Dean agreed while he poked the mound with his knife. "I wonder if it has shed since last night."

"Is that was that is?" Jess sounded sickened. "It sheds its skin? I'm definitely going to be sick."

"Stay close, it might be near. You got your gun?"

"Yeah."

"Good, let's go."

They wandered around for at least an hour more without any sign of the Shapeshifter. They couldn't see it but it had been following them the entire time; hiding in the shadows, waiting for the perfect opportunity to attack. It was hard as Jess stayed close to Dean the entire time. It had wanted them to separate but it quickly realised it would have to attack in order to do that. Coming out of the shadows; the shifter threw Dean to the ground and attempted to grab Jess. Dean leapt to his feet and punched the shifter in the face.

"RUN!" He turned and yelled to Jess who immediately ran back the way they had come, towards the exit. Dean turned back to face the shifter but it had disappeared. "Damn it," he whispered and tried to catch up with Jess.

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Jess had got lost in the maze that was the sewer system. She had thought she was going the right way but she soon realised that she had no idea where she was. She was terrified and almost jumped out of her skin when she heard a loud bang.

"Dean, is that you?" There was no reply. "Dean, are you there?" Jess gave a loud scream as the shifter grabbed hold of her and put its hand over her mouth to stifle her cries.

"Shhh," it whispered. "Don't make a sound." She struggled uselessly as it carried her to its lair and tied her up. It removed the gun from the waistband of her jeans and threw it across the floor.

"What do you want?"

"I want to kill you, but not yet. Now if you excuse me I have to go and change."

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Dean had made his way to the surface but couldn't find Jess anywhere. He frantically dialled her number and waited for a reply.

"Hello?"

"Jess," he said, relieved. "Where are you?"

"By the car, where are you?"

"Just got out of the sewer. Hold on I'll be right there."

"Okay, hurry."

Dean made his way back to the Impala as quick as he could to find a scared looking Jess waiting for him.

"Are you okay?" Was the first thing he asked, almost on instinct.

"Yeah, I'm fine. You don't always have to ask me that you know."

"Yeah I do," he replied with a grin.

"I like that, your smile. It makes you look younger."

"What?" Dean was confused.

"Have I never told you before?"

"No you haven't," Dean was unnerved by Jess's sudden change in demeanour.

"Maybe I should have," she moved close to him and brought her lips to his chin, kissing him softly.

"What are you doing?"

"I want you," she whispered before pressing her lips onto his. Dean tried to push her away but she didn't let him break the kiss. She lowered her hands to his waist and felt around for his gun. Finally Dean managed to push her away.

"What the hell was that?"

"A kiss," she said as she raised her arm and brought the gun down on his head. "Oops," the shifter said as he fell to the ground.

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Dean awoke with a killer headache. He tried to rub his head with his hand but he quickly realised that his hands were tied behind his back. He struggled in vain against his bonds but they would not give.

"You're awake," a cold voice came from behind him.

"Where's Jess?" He demanded to know.

"I'm right here."

"You're not Jess, you're a Shapeshifter."

"How can you tell?"

"How about the fact that you shoved your tongue down my throat?"

"And little Jess wouldn't do that normally?" The shifter enquired.

"No," Dean gave a mirthless laugh.

"But how do you know she doesn't want to?"

"Because she loves Sam."

"But Sammy cheated on her," the shifter said. "Maybe she would want revenge on him."

"She wouldn't do that to Sam, neither would I?"

"Are you saying you don't want her?"

"Not like that," Dean continued to try to free himself.

"But you do and do you know why?"

"No, but I'm sure you're about to tell me," he said sarcastically.

"Because she's female and you'll go after anyone in a skirt."

"But not her," Dean insisted.

"Only because she was with your brother. She's the only girl you can never have and I bet it just eats you up inside," the shifter taunted him.

"Not as much as you'd like to think," Dean sneered.

"We'll see," the shifter retorted with a smile.

"Now, tell me where Jess is."

"Not yet, but you'll know soon enough when I kill you both."

"Oh, so you are going to kill us and not just mock us until we die of boredom."

"That's cute; using sarcasm as a defence mechanism. Just to hide how you really feel."

"And how would I feel?"

"You're scared. Scared that you're gonna die, worried you won't help Jess, terrified you'll never find Sam. It's all in there," it pointed to Dean's head.

"Shut the hell up," Dean yelled angrily.

"See, I was right. Underneath those layers of bravado, you're just a scared little boy. It's so endearing, almost a shame I have to kill you."

"Why do you have to kill me?"

"There are a lot of things that want you dead. You're not very popular with those down there."

"Never tried to be."

"But they have plans and they want to make sure that you're not around to ruin them; so they hired me to do the job."

Jess had been trying to free herself since the shifter had gone to find Dean and was almost free of her bonds. With one last tug of the ropes, her hands were released and she made short work of the ropes around her legs. As silently as she could, Jess picked up the discarded gun and went to look for Dean. She found him quickly; overhearing everything the Shapeshifter was saying, taunting him over how he wanted her and how they wanted them both dead.

She watched as the shifter untied Dean and threw him to the ground and picked up a knife. It grabbed hold of his wrists when Dean tried to struggle and brought the knife to his throat. Jess found her opportunity to attack.

"Hey," she shouted to gain its attention. The shifter stood quickly and turned round just in time to see Jess fire the gun; sending several silver bullets into its chest. The shifter fell to the ground, dead.

"Oh, my God," Jess exclaimed. "I just shot myself," she said in disbelief.

"Nice aim," Dean told her as she helped him to his feet.

"Thanks, I learned from the best."

"Damn right you did," Dean grinned. "Let's get rid of this body."

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Later, Dean and Jess were packing their belongings up in the car, getting ready to leave.

"Dean?" Jess asked.

"Yeah," Dean replied.

"I heard what the Shapeshifter said."

"The Shapeshifter said a lot of things," Dean said casually.

"You know what I mean. Should we be talking about it?"

"Nope, nothing to talk about. The shifter was trying to get to me, it lied."

"Okay," Jess gave in. She knew well enough by now that if Dean didn't want to talk about something then he wouldn't.

"You ready to go?"

"Yeah, let's get the hell out of here. I don't really want to stay in a place where I shot myself."

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"DAMN IT!" Meg yelled angrily, picking up a lamp and throwing it across the room.

"What did the lamp ever do to you?" Sam dryly asked.

"Tell me why the hell did I let you wake up again?" She snapped. "I should have just let you stay drugged."

"But then you would miss my sparkling conversation."

"Just shut the hell up before I gag you as well." Meg had let Sam wake up fully several days ago but kept him tied securely to the bed; just so he couldn't escape.

"Are you mad because your little Shapeshifter failed?" He said in a mock sympathetic tone.

"What did I tell you about shutting up?"

"Hey, I'm not the one who hired and incompetent to do my dirty work."

"What are you so smug about?"

"Because you failed. Now, what do you want with me?" He asked through gritted teeth.

"For some reason, you're my father's favourite," she said sounding slightly bored. "He thinks you're special, more special than the others out there. By the time I'm finished you'll be batting for our team."

"I'm never going to join you."

"Is that so? You're holding on waiting for Dean and the lovely Jess to find you and rescue you but that's never going to happen."

"Why is that?"

"Because they're far too busy kissing each other to even think about you. It was Sam's turn to get angry.

"You're lying," he said through gritted teeth.

"You think?" She mockingly asked as she showed him a photograph of the Shapeshifter disguised as Jess kissing Dean.

"Where did you get this?" He asked in disbelief.

"I have eyes and ears everywhere. I've been following the two of them since you left Jess. Looks like your girlfriend doesn't want you anymore," she gave a sympathetic look. "Now what were you saying about not joining us?"

"Why would I want to join you?"

"Because then you could get revenge on them. I mean if she'd cheated on you with a stranger you could forgive her, but with your own brother? That's the worst kind of betrayal. Join us and you can give them what they deserve. Doesn't that sound good?"

Sam sat quietly and pondered Meg's proposal. Meg could see he was inwardly struggling with what he had just heard. Good, she thought. It will be easier to turn him than she had imagined.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Thanks for the reviews. I really should reply to them individually but I can never think of anything to say, but a huge thanks to everyone who's commented.**

The Seeker Chapter Five

It was the ringing of Dean's phone that woke Jess up.

"Dean," she called, "your phone's ringing."

"Huh?" Was Dean's reply.

"Your phone is ringing."

Dean reached out and fumbled around the bedside cabinet until he found his phone and answered it.

"Hello?" He answered sleepily. "Yeah, you're sure? It's just that we haven't had a lead in weeks. No, he'd left by the time we got there and we haven't heard anything since. But you're sure it was him? Ok, we'll check it out, thanks for calling."

"Who was that?" Jess asked Dean as he hung up.

"A contact saying that there's been a new sighting of Sam."

"Really?"

"Yeah, he got a call from a friend who told him he'd seen Sam."

"Where?"

"A few towns over," he saw the small frown on Jess's face. "It's gotta be worth checking out."

"Yeah, but I'm not going to raise my hopes just in case he isn't there. I'm just going to stay sceptical until we're sure." Dean moved over to Jess and put his hand on her shoulder; attempting to comfort her.

"Yeah, I'll agree with you there; I'm not going to get my hopes up either. We'll set off in the morning okay?"

"Okay."

"Try and get some more sleep," Dean removed his hand from Jess's shoulder and moved back over to his own bed before curling up under the covers and falling back to sleep.

Sleep didn't come as easily for Jess. She tossed and turned for an hour before giving up on sleep all together and instead decided to read through John's journal. When Dean woke up in the morning and found Jess asleep at the table, leaning over the journal. He quietly dressed and the left the motel room to buy coffee. She was still asleep when he returned.

"Hey," he said softly as he gently shook her until she woke.

"What time is it?" She sleepily asked.

"Nine a.m. What time did you fall back to sleep?"

"Not sure, it was four the last time I looked at the clock. Thanks," she said when he handed her the coffee. "When are we going to set off?"

"As soon as I've packed everything up; it should only take a couple of hours to get there."

"Great," Jess replied half sarcastically. To be perfectly honest she wasn't looking forward to this very much, in fact she was dreading it. There was something wrong about this and she could tell Dean thought so too only neither of them was going verbalise their suspicions. They hadn't heard anything about Sam in so long she had long since given up hope of ever finding him but it was the only thing that kept her going sometimes and she knew that Dean still had hope, so that was enough.

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The town was eerily quiet when they arrived. It was the middle of the day but there was no-one around. The town was dead.

"What's wrong with this picture?" Dean asked giving Jess a look that said 'this was a bad idea.

"Where is everyone?"

"I'm hoping they're all in the bar happily getting drunk."

"Dean, it's the middle of the day."

"Hell, if I lived in a town like this I would never leave the bar," he grinned and Jess couldn't help but grin back. Even in the tensest circumstances Dean had the ability to make her smile, it was one of the things she liked most about him. "Come on, let's go check the bar."

"Is drinking all you think about?"

"I'm offended," Dean said in mock offence. "I also think about my car and women."

"Why am I not surprised?" She laughed as they made their way to the bar.

It turned out the bar was just as empty. Dean audibly sighed as they looked around and found nothing.

"Where the hell is everyone? It's like they all just disappeared."

"I think we should get out of here," Jess said nervously.

"I agree, I don't like it here it's giving me the creeps. Let's hurry back to the car."

It made Jess even more nervous that Dean admitted this place gave him the creeps. He never admitted that a place scared him so this must be really bad. She followed Dean out of the bar and crashed into his back when he suddenly stopped. She moved out from behind him and saw the reason why he stopped. In front of them stood almost the entire town; every one of them had black eyes. They grinned maliciously at Dean and Jess; waiting to attack. Dean quickly slammed the door shut.

"Well, now we know what happened to the town," Dean whispered to Jess. "They've all been possessed by demons. We've walked right into their trap."

"How are we going to get out of this?"

"I have no idea," he admitted. "All the weapons are in the car."

"You didn't bring anything?"

"A gun and a knife; but that's not going to stop them, it won't even slow them down. We need to get to the car."

"Yeah, but we can't fight our way through all of them, they'll kill us."

"Come on out," he heard one of the demons calling. "We're not going to hurt you… much. If you don't come out then we'll just have to come in."

"We need salt," Dean told Jess.

"I'll go and see if I can find some."

"Be careful," he told her as she ran into the back room. He stood by the door and waited for her to return. He soon lost patience with waiting and went to find her. He heard a window smash and Jess cried out in shock so he ran to her. A rock had been thrown through the window and Jess was lying on the floor. At first he thought she had been hit by the rock but on when he got closer he saw a small dart piercing her neck.

"Jess?" He called gently as he removed the dart. She moaned and opened her eyes. "You okay?" He asked.

"I'm fine, just feel a little tired."

"I think you've been poisoned, we need to get out of here."

"Okay," Dean lifted her up in his arms and carried her to the back door. Opening it he saw several demons but not having much of a choice he had to make a run for it. He managed to dodge the first few but the last one knocked him to the ground and Jess rolled across the floor. Leaping to his feet, Dean punched the demon who fell to the floor. The other demons saw their opportunity to make their move. They leapt on Dean and punched him until he fell to the ground. They then proceeded to kick him in the ribs until the sound of a shotgun could be heard.

"Get the hell off him," a very irate woman yelled, firing the gun again to warn the demons off. She ran over to Dean and helped him to his feet. "Come on, we've got to get to safety."

"Yeah," he agreed as he picked Jess up and carried her to the woman's house. When they arrived, he gently lay her down on the sofa.

"What's wrong?" She asked as she leaned over Jess and began to check her over.

"She's been poisoned," he told her. "Not that I'm not grateful but who are you?"

"My name's Hannah, I'm a doctor. This girl needs to get to a hospital, she's not gonna last long."

"I'm Dean, and she's called Jess. What happened here?"

"I'm not sure. I was away for a few days and when I get home everyone's acting weird. Did you notice their eyes? They're black.

"Yeah, they're possessed."

"What?"

"They're possessed," he saw the confused and horrified look on her face. "By demons," he elaborated.

"Demon's are real?"

"Yes, I don't have time to explain but do you have any salt?"

"Yeah."

"Good; get it and draw lines around all the doors and windows, it'll keep them out for the time being."

"Okay, I can do that," Hannah said as she ran to the kitchen. Dean knelt down next to Jess and gently rubbed her forehead.

"Jess, you awake?" He asked.

"Hey," she weakly replied.

"How do you feel?"

"Tired and sick."

"You gonna throw up?" She nodded slightly. He grabbed the waste paper basket and rolled her onto her side so she could throw up. When she had finished she rolled back over and closed her eyes.

"Thanks," she whispered. "I'm so tired; I'm going to sleep now. Wake me up when it's time to go."

"Okay, you rest. I'm going to get you out of here, you're going to be okay," but she didn't hear him, she was out cold.

Hannah returned with a bowl of water and a damp cloth. "Here," she handing them to Dean; who wet the cloth and laid it on Jess's forehead. "How is she?"

"Not good, I don't think she's going to last much longer."

"There's not much I can do until we get her to a hospital. We need to identify the poison and find the anti-venom."

"You can stay here with her, look after her."

"Where are you going?" She asked nervously.

"I need to get to my car. I'm gonna bring it here and then we'll drive our way out. I won't be long," he told her. "I hope," he added onto the end.

"But it's too dangerous, you'll get killed."

"I won't. I'll make it back for her," he promised.

"She means a lot to you, doesn't she?"

"More than anything. Just look after her."

"I will."

"Thank you."

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It unnerved Dean that the demons were nowhere to be seen when he left the house. Taking advantage of the opportunity he quickly made his way to the car. It was then he realised it would not be so simple. The demons were guarding it to make it more difficult for him to escape. Not wanting to draw any attention to himself; he quietly made his way towards the car, keeping to the shadows so they wouldn't notice him. When he could go no further without them spotting him he stepped out of the shadows and shouted:

"Come and get me." The demons didn't hesitate and ran towards him. He knocked the first few out of the way before they began to overwhelm him. They dragged him to the ground before attacking him viciously. The thought of helping Jess was the only thing stopping him from falling into unconsciousness. In fact it gave him a burst of strength and he managed to fight them off long enough to gain his footing and hurl himself towards the Impala. He threw the door open; climbed inside and started the car. Slamming his foot on the accelerator; he drove as fast he could and watched as the demons jump out of the way to avoid him.

Although it only took a minute, it felt like an eternity to make his way back to Hannah's house. He slammed on the brakes and ran into the house.

"Hannah?" He called.

"I'm in the living room," she answered.

"Come on, we gotta get out of here before they regroup," he said as he picked Jess up and carried her outside. He gently laid her onto the back seat of the Impala while Hannah sat in the front seat. Jess moaned slightly, the only indication that she was still alive. He squeezed her hand before shutting the door; climbing into the front seat and driving as fast as he could to get the hell out of town.

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"She's going to be fine," Hannah told Dean as she handed him a cup of coffee. "We got her here in time, they gave her the anti-venom."

"What was she poisoned with?'

"Snake venom. Pretty nasty stuff too. Any longer and it might have been too late."

"But she'll be okay?"

"Yes, she just needs to rest for a few days."

"Can I see her?"

"Sure, go ahead. Can I just ask you one thing first?"

"What is it?"

"Demons? I still don't believe what I saw."

"Yeah, demons are real."

"What did they want? Not that I believe you, but I just want to know."

"They wanted us dead."

Dean quietly entered Jess's room where she was sleeping peacefully. Her face was pale and there were dark circles under her eyes. He sat down on the chair next to her bed.

"You really have to stop scaring me like this," he admitted as he held her hand. "You're gonna be the death of me, you do know that?" Dean knew he was acting like a girl but he didn't care; he was just so happy Jess was going to be okay. "I was so scared you were going to die and I don't know what I would do if I lost you. I've only known you for six months and you've become such a big part of my life. I'm sorry for going on like a girl; I guess I'm just tired. I'll come back in the morning, night Jess," he leaned over and gently kissed her on the cheek before leaving.

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Dean went back to the town the next day and got a huge shock. Whereas the day before the town had been deserted, today it was busy with people. They were all going about their daily business, talking on phones, eating food and acting the complete opposite to the way they had the day before. He walked into the bar and found the owner complaining about the broken window.

"If I find out who the hell threw that brick I'll kill them," Dean didn't want to be the one to tell him that he had been the one to do it, he just felt content to smile and walk over to the owner. "What can I get you?" The man asked.

"Oh, nothing, I just came to ask if you'd seen this man. I came yesterday but there was no-one here," he handed the man a photo of Sam.

"No, I haven't seen him," the man said shaking his head. "You say there was no-one here yesterday?"

"No, sir. The place was completely empty."

"That's strange, I don't remember what happened yesterday at all, it's completely black."

"That's okay," Dean said before leaving the bar. It was very strange that all the demons had gone and had left no trace of ever being there. Dean was going to lose sleep over this he was certain but he put it to the back of his mind as he made his way back to the car and to the hospital to see Jess.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: I was going to do something compleely different for this chapter but it wasn't working out so I scrapped it and wrote this instead**

The Seeker Chapter Six

Meg was pleased at the progress Sam had been making over the past few months. Slowly but surely he had begun to forget his old life and embrace his new one.

It hadn't been easy. At first he had stubbornly held onto the belief that someone would save him and he fought with Meg at every opportunity. But then she had shown him the photograph of Dean kissing the Shapeshifter disguised as Jess and then his attitude began to change.

He had been quiet for several days after that, he didn't talk, he barely ate and seemed to slip into a depression that actually pleased Meg. She could see he was breaking and it was up to her to put him back together again. So she listened to Sam patiently as he talked about his relationship with Jess; even though it bored the hell out of her and made her want to be physically sick. She listened and comforted and insulted his girlfriend for being unfaithful under the pretence of being his friend when she was actually manipulating him to her advantage.

She released him from the bonds she had been using to keep him from escaping and he made no attempt to leave. It was then she knew he trusted her. It was then she began to turn him.

"What would you do if you saw your girlfriend again?" Meg asked one day. Sam just shrugged his shoulders and didn't say anything. "Oh, come on, there must be something you would want to say to her."

"I would tell her to go to Hell," he admitted.

"You know what I would do if I had a cheating boyfriend?"

"What?"

"I would rip his heart out," Sam gave her a shocked look. "Well, maybe not physically," she added quickly, pretending to be embarrassed. "But I would want to make him suffer somehow."

"And how would you do that? Besides ripping his heart out?"

"Smash his car window; flirt with his friends, cut up his clothes."

"So you're petty and vindictive as well as evil?"

"It's like you've known me all my life," Meg gave a laugh. "Are you hungry? I'm going to go and get some food."

"Sure, get me anything," Sam replied.

"Cool," Meg left the room and made her way outside. She didn't really want food but she had to speak with her father and that meant finding some unwilling victim to slaughter.

She found the poor guy in a diner near the motel. She led him out of town to a small wooded area with promise of something and then she slit his throat and used his blood to communicate.

"Yes, Sam is coming along nicely. I planted seeds of doubt in his mind and he fell for it straight away. I'm sure it won't be long now. The darkness is already in him, we just need to bring it to the surface."

When Meg returned Sam had not moved from the spot she had left him.

"Pizza okay?" She asked in a faux cheerful tone. It nearly killed her to pretend to be this happy. She didn't expect Sam to stand up and launch himself at her, pinning her against the wall. "Sam, I had no idea you liked it kinky," she teased.

"What the hell do you want with me?" He asked his voice low and angry.

"Well, if you don't know sweetie, I'm not going to tell you," she continued to tease him even though she knew it made him angrier. That was the whole point.

"Don't mess with me or I will kill you. Just answer my question."

"Personally I don't care what happens to you," she said as she shoved him off her. "But my father has big plans for you and I'm helping you realise your full potential," she continued.

"What plans?"

"I don't know exactly. All I know is that they involve you and the other special children."

"What do you mean by special?"

"None of this is coincidence, you know?" She said as she pushed Sam onto the bed and stood over him. "Those visions you've been having, yes I do know about those," she told him when he gave her a shocked look. "Those visions are part of it. My father wants to use you and the other children in his big plans."

"So what do Dean and Jess have to do with it?"

"Nothing really, we just don't want them interfering and trying to stop us. We tried to kill Jess when you disappeared so no-one could stop us but that didn't work so now I'm trying my hardest to end them."

"For the plan?"

"Partly, but mostly because it's fun."

"So those dreams I had of Jess dying would have cone true?"

"If your brother hadn't shown up and interrupted then yes they would have."

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It took several more weeks after that to convince Sam that he should join them with the plan. He still had too much good in him but Meg knew how to draw out his dark side. She knew all his strengths and weaknesses and she could manipulate them to her advantage. His biggest weakness was his family. She played on his fears about Dean and Jess so much that he couldn't bear to take it anymore. Then she started on his father.

"Sam, can I ask you a question?" She 'innocently' asked him one day.

"Meg, stop trying to be innocent it doesn't suit you. What are you going to ask?"

"Do you ever think about your dad?"

"What about my dad?" He asked trying to feign disinterest.

"How do you feel about him? I mean after all he said and did, how does that make you feel?"

"It makes me feel angry."

"I guess if my father had kicked me out and spent the last few years not speaking or making any contact with me I would be angry too."

"Does this conversation have a point?"

"Not really," she said and left.

It was then that Sam started to really think about his father and the more he thought about him, the angrier he became. He knew exactly what Meg was doing and he was falling right into it; without any power to stop it. He could feel the anger taking over and it felt good. It was simple and uncomplicated and far easier to cope with than all the pain and fear he had been feeling over the last few months.

He had been terrified when he started having dreams of Jess dying so he decided to leave to try to protect her. He had bumped into Meg and she had seemed sincere enough but then she drugged him and he spent several weeks unconscious. When he had woken she revealed herself to be a demon and he had hated her but slowly he began to warm to her. He didn't even realise he was so at first but she seemed to be the only person on his side. No-one had tried to rescue him; Dean didn't some to save him like he would when they were younger and now Sam didn't care. If Dean didn't care about him, then Sam would simply stop giving a damn about his brother. It was easier than caring.

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"Meg?" Sam asked one night.

"Yes, Sam?" She replied impatiently.

"Do you ever feel remorse when you kill someone?"

"No, it's easy to kill a person. If you don't think about it then it won't bother you."

"I think I want to try it," Meg smiled at that.

Meg was right, Sam thought as he pulled the bloody knife from the young girl's body. It didn't bother him at all that he had just killed her. It had been easy, slightly exhilarating even. He had drawn her into the woods, slid the knife slowly into her chest and watched as the life drained out of her.

"How was it?" Meg emerged fro the shadows.

"Easy," he replied. "I didn't feel anything." He thought back to a time when murdering a person in cold blood would have bothered him but he no longer recognised that person. He was stronger, more dangerous and he had more power than boring old Sam Winchester could ever dream of.

"Good, that's the way it should be."

"I thought I would care that she was dead, but I don't. I feel nothing, just cold and empty."

"That's good; you should use that to your advantage. They'll never expect someone who looks so angelic to be so evil."

"Who won't?"

"The other children."

"I have to kill them?"

"Eventually, but I have other things to take care of first. Like your meddlesome family."

"What are you going to do?"

"I have a plan. I'm going to use your brother to draw out your father and them I'm going to kill them both and Jess. It's going to be fun."

"Can I watch?"

"You would like that, wouldn't you?"

"So much."

"I don't think it's such a good idea. I don't want to put you in any unnecessary danger before I need to."

"But I want to. I want to see them suffer."

"I'm sorry, but my father doesn't want you to. You will respect his wishes, won't you?"

"Fine," Sam replied sullenly. "I won't go."

"But if you're a very good boy, I might bring you back a present."

Sam just smiled.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: This is a rewrite of Shadow. I'm not happy with it really, but it'll do**

**The Seeker Chapter Seven**

"Okay, we're here," Dean told Jess, who was staring blankly out of the window.

"Huh?"

"We're here, come one," Dean and Jess exited the car outside the apartment of a young woman named Meredith; who had been murdered. They had both dressed as workers of the alarm company in order to gain access.

They talked to the landlady; who had found the body several days after Meredith's death when she didn't turn up for work. The murder scene was in perfect condition, no sign of forced entry, no overturned furniture or broken glass. The landlady left them alone in the apartment to go over everything.

"So, a killer walks in and out of the apartment; no weapons, no prints, nothin'," Dean commented.

"I knew this was our type of thing," Jess replied while checking the EMF. The meter was going crazy.

"I think I agree with you."

"Did you talk to the cops?"

"Yep and there's one thing they're keeping out of the papers; Meredith's heart was missing."

"Her heart? So what do you think did it?" She asked.

"Not sure," he said as he noticed something. "See if you can find any masking tape around." Dean took the masking tape and used it to mark out a pattern from the blood. When he had finished; he stood up and he and Jess stared at the symbol.

"Have you ever seen that symbol before?" Jess asked.

"Never," he replied.

Later that evening, they were in a bar trying to find out about Meredith. Jess sat at a table and leafed through John's journal while Dean flirted with the bartender. She tried not to notice it because for some reason when she did she felt a stab of jealousy. Jess didn't really know when she had started feeling that way towards Dean but she was pretty sure he didn't feel the same so she said nothing. She looked up and saw Dean walking towards her.

"I talked to the bartender," he told her.

"Yeah. You get anything besides her number?" She tried to hide her jealousy but didn't conceal it very well; however Dean didn't seem to notice.

"Hey, I'm offended you'd even think that," he said in mock offence before holding up a napkin, "yeah okay," he grinned.

"Did you find out anything useful?" She said that a little too harsh.

"What's got into you? You're not usually so tetchy."

"Sorry," she apologised. "I guess I'm just tired."

"Do you want to go back to the motel?" He asked with a hint of concern in his voice.

"No, I'll be all right. Honestly. So what did you find out?"

"Not a lot we didn't already know. Meredith worked here, everyone liked her and she was normal; didn't say or act weird before she died. You find anything about the symbol?"

"There's nothing in the journal or any of the usual books. We're just going to have to keep digging."

"This is bothering me."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. Who was the first victim again?"

"His name was Ben Swardstrom; same deal as Meredith, mutilated body, the door was locked and the alarm was on."

"Was there any connection between the two?'

"Not that I can see."

"Great," Dean ran his hand through his hair. "I'm gonna head back to the motel, you coming?"

"Yeah," Jess replied. They stood up and prepared to leave. As they were making their way to the exit a young blonde woman banged into Dean.

"Oh my God, I'm sorry," she said before recognising Dean. "I know you don't I?" She asked.

"Erm… yeah you do. Meg isn't it?"

"Yes, you're Sam's brother. How are you? Did you find your brother?"

"I'm okay and no we didn't find him," Dean replied.

"I'm sorry I wasn't more help. He seemed like such a nice guy, I really liked him."

"That's okay. If you'll excuse me, my friend's waiting so I have to go."

"Oh, maybe I'll see you around."

"Yeah, maybe," he gave a small smile and hurried to catch up to Jess.

"I don't trust her," she told him.

"You don't? She seemed sincere enough."

"There's just something about her. I can't explain it but I think she's trouble."

"This isn't out of jealousy is it?" He asked.

"No," she nearly bit his head off.

"Okay just asking, no need to shout."

"I'm sorry but don't you think it's just a little bit weird that she's here?"

"I guess it's a little bit weird, but she did say she was travelling."

"To California, this is Chicago."

"I see your point. We'll keep an eye on her, okay?"

"Okay," she replied.

"Come on, let's get going," he put his hand on her back and gently started to lead her away.

"You go, I'm gonna go and check on Meg."

"Jess, you're getting obsessed. Let's just go back to the motel, research the symbol and get some sleep."

"No, I'm going and you're not going to change my mind."

"Fine, but be careful."

"I will."

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Dean picked up his phone and dialled Jess's number.

"Hello," she answered on the first ring.

"Hey, is everything okay?" He asked.

"Fine, did you find anything about the symbol?"

"I did, it turns out its Zoroastrian. It's a symbol for a Daeva."

"A what?"

"It translates to "demon of darkness". Zoroastrian demons, and they're savage, animalistic, you know, nasty attitudes—kind of like, uh, demonic pit bulls."

"How did you figure that out?" She sounded surprised.

"Hey give me a little credit," he paused for a moment before adding, "Okay so I called dad's friend Caleb. Anyway, Daeva's have to be summoned so there's someone controlling it. Any luck at your end?"

"Not so far, she's been quiet. Wait, she's leaving. I'm going to follow her, see where she goes."

"Jess, that's not a good idea without back up."

"I'm going," she hung up the phone before Dean could answer.

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Dean waited for Jess to return. He had managed to get a hold of the complete records for the two murder victims and was shocked at what he saw. Looking at his watch he began to worry more. Jess still wasn't back and he started to get a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. What if she'd been hurt or killed and he hadn't been there to protect her. They had become very close over the past months; spending all their time together and he had begun to develop feelings towards her. He had continued to flirt with every woman he met as a way of hiding these feelings because he was almost certain she didn't feel the same way about him. Hearing the door open he snapped his head up and immediately felt relief wash over him when he realised it was Jess. He jumped up and rushed over to her.

"I gotta talk to you," the both said at the same time.

"You go first," Dean told her.

"Meg's the one summoning the Daeva."

"You're sure?"

"Yeah, I followed her to an old warehouse and saw her talk to something in a bowl. When she left I looked at the altar, it had the Daeva symbol on it."

"Who was she communicating with?"

"I don't know. I only heard her side of the conversation but it's coming to meet her. What did you find out?" She asked.

"I got the full records of Ben and Meredith and found something out."

"What?"

"They're both from Lawrence."

"Lawrence, where your mom died?"

"Yeah."

"Do you think Meg is connected to the demon?"

"I think it's a definite possibility."

"It can't be a coincidence. Oh my God," she realised something.

"What is it?"

"It's all connected," she told him. "Not just Meg and the Demon but all of it, the Daeva's, your mom's death and Sam's disappearance. The demon showed up to kill me right after Sam vanished and then we found Meg."

"She knew who we were when we met her," Dean said as he shook his head. "She's been playing us from the start; which means she knows where Sam is. I don't think Sam ever left that town."

"You mean she's been keeping him prisoner?"

"I think she has. I'm gonna kill her."

"We need to go to that warehouse and find out who she's meeting," Jess told him.

"I agree, we go tomorrow."

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The next night Dean and Jess prepared to go to the warehouse. Jess had gone to collect weapons from the car and Dean left his dad a voicemail telling him what was going on. He didn't expect him to reply but he left it anyway.

"Ready?" Jess asked.

"How much stuff did you get?"

"Almost everything, I wasn't sure what we'd need so I got as much as I could."

"Good thinking."

"What happens if this ends tonight? If we find the demon and Sam, what happens?"

"I don't know; what do you want to happen?"

"I'm not sure. When this all started all I wanted was to find Sam and go back to school but now I'm not sure if this is what I want. I don't know if I'll be able to go back to an ordinary life. I don't know if I want to."

"You don't have to," Dean said hopefully. "You could stay."

"Maybe," she gave him a small smile, "let's see what happens. You ready to go?"

"Yeah, come on."

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They both watched silently as Meg communicated with the unseen thing. Suddenly she stopped and without turning around she said,

"Why don't you come out? I'm sure we could have some fun."

"Damn," Dean said under his breath as they both emerged from the lift shaft. "Where's your little Daeva friend?" He called out to Meg.

"Around, you know that shotgun isn't going to do you much good."

"It isn't for the demon."

"So, who's coming?" Jess asked, "Who are you waiting for?"

"You," Meg sneered as the Daeva attacked.

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When they came to they were both tied to posts and bleeding from the attack. Meg was sat in front of them, smiling maliciously. Dean stared at Jess and they both realised at the same time what was going on.

"It was a trap," Dean told Meg. "All of it. Seeing you in that bar, following you here and hearing what you had to say; you did it to lead us here. And the two people you killed from Lawrence?"

"That was just to draw you in."

"You killed two people for nothing?" Jess asked in disgust.

"I've killed a lot more for a lot less."

"You trapped us. Good for you. It's Miller time," Dean smiled. "But why don't you kill us already?"

"Because it's not time yet. You're not all here, I still need one more."

"Dad," Dean realised. "You're waiting for dad but, sweetheart, he's not dumb enough to walk into a trap," he mocked.

"Yes, he is pretty good but he has a weakness. You. He'll want to try and protect his son so he'll come to save you and when he does I'll kill you all."

"Why do you want to kill us?" Jess asked, drawing the attention away from Dean so he could cut his ropes with a knife without Meg noticing.

"So you don't interfere with our plans."

"And what would those plans be?"

"Our plans for Sammy," Meg laughed at the shocked look on Jess's face.

"What have you done to Sam?"

"I haven't done anything to Sam other than show him what he's capable of. What are you doing?" She turned back to Dean, pulled the knife from his hands and threw it across the floor. "You're not trying to distract me while Dean tries to escape?" She said turning her attention back to Jess.

"No I have a knife of my own," she said as she cut herself free.

"Get the altar," Dean instructed as Meg tried to stop her. She turned the altar over and they both watched as the Daeva turned its attention to Meg, dragging her across the floor and throwing her from the window to the ground below. Jess quickly cut Dean free and they hurried to the window to see Meg lying there, dead.

"We should go," Jess said.

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They headed back to the motel room, Jess insisting they keep the bag of weapons with them just in case. Dean opened the door and saw someone moving in the shadows.

"Hey!" He called as Jess turned on the light. The man turned around. "Dad?" Dean asked, stunned. He looked at him for a moment before crossing the room and hugging his father. They stayed like that for what seemed an eternity before drawing apart. "It was a trap, I'm sorry I didn't know."

"It's okay," John told him, "I thought it might be."

"You were there?"

"Got there just in time to see the girl take a swan dive. She was the bad guy, right?"

"Yeah," Dean gave a small laugh. "This is Jess," he told his dad. "She's been helping me find Sam."

"Hello, Sir," Jess greeted him and shook his hand.

"Nice to meet you," he replied. He turned back to Dean, "have you heard anything from Sam?'

"Not a word," he answered. "Meg said they had plans for him but she didn't say what. We think she's been hiding him all this time."

"It would explain why you haven't been able to find him."

"What do we do now?" Dean asked.

"We keep looking. You look for Sam and I'm going to try to close in on the demon."

Dean was about to reply when the Daeva attacked them. He could hear John and Jess scream in pain as the shadow demon ripped into their flesh. In extreme pain, he made his way to the bag and picked up a flare. "Shut your eyes," he cried as he set the flare off. They took that opportunity to run from the motel room, Dean helping his father out. Once they were outside they stopped.

"You okay?" John asked. Jess only nodded but Dean gave a verbal response.

"Yeah, you?" Dean asked back. John nodded in reply. "You have to go, you can't stay with us," John sadly nodded again. "Find the demon, we'll look for Sam," he repeated John's earlier words.

"Be careful," he said as he climbed into his truck, started it and drove away. Dean turned his attention back to Jess.

"We need to get cleaned up."

"Yeah," she said quietly.

"Come on," he said as he helped her to the passenger side of the Impala before making his way to the driver's side.

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Meg stared at the unfolding scene with disgust. The Daeva's had failed to do their job and kill them and now she was mad.

"You failed again," a cold voice came from the person standing behind her. "I just wish you would let me have a go, I wouldn't fail."

"Patience, Sam, you'll have your chance. All you have to do is wait," she turned to face him and smiled.

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Dean and Jess holed themselves up in another motel and tended to their wounds. They were both exhausted but sleep did not come to them. Jess heard Dean toss and turn for a while before climbing out of bed and going over to Dean's.

"Dean?" She quietly asked.

"Yeah?"

"Can I sleep with you tonight? I don't want to be alone." She was grateful when he pulled back the covers and made room for her in the bed.

"Don't hog the covers," he said sleepily as she climbed in and snuggled up to him.

"Thanks."

"No problem."

"Night Dean."


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: This is what brain thinks of at 7am when I've only had 5 1/2 hours sleep. It's just something standalone before the end of the story. Oh, and Happy Birthday to me**

The Seeker Chapter Eight

Malcolm and Rose had just got married and were spending their honeymoon in the Crossways hotel. They were very much in love, planning to spend the rest of their lives together, having a family, growing old and never leaving each others sides. Rose had gone to the bathroom to change out of her wedding dress and Malcolm sat on the bed waiting for his new bride to reappear.

Someone was watching him. She was old and bitter, full of vengeance. She saw Malcolm and saw another victim. She was going to hurt him before he hurt his wife.

_Malcolm, _she whisperedMalcolm stared around in shock.

"Who's there?"

_Malcolm why don't you come and find me?_

"This isn't funny," he called out. He almost jumped out of his skin when he felt something brush against him. "Who are you? What do you want?"

_I want you dead, _she said as she appeared in front of him.

Rose heard her husband scream and ran out of the bathroom. She too screamed when she saw her new husband lying dead and mutilated on the bed.

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"What are you looking at?" Jess asked Dean who was staring at a newspaper article.

"I think I've found us a job, look," he pointed at an article. "Newly married couple on their honeymoon at the Crossways Hotel, wife goes to the bathroom to change, hears her husband scream and finds him dead."

"Okay, that's weird."

"That's not all. Five other newly married men who have stayed in that room have died."

"So you're thinking a vengeful spirit?"

"I am."

"You got a plan?"

"I do."

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"I can't believe we're doing this," Jess told Dean.

"What's wrong with the plan?"

"We're pretending to be married to hunt a spirit."

"We need to be in the honeymoon suite and the only way we can get in there is if we're married. Or pretending to be."

"Good afternoon, can I help you?" The receptionist asked, interrupting their hushed conversation.

"Yes, I booked the honeymoon suite under Paice."

"Ah, yes," she said checking on a computer. "Mr. and Mrs. Ian Paice staying for three days, correct?"

"That's correct."

"Sign here and someone will be along shortly to carry your bags up to your room."

"Thanks very much."

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"Wow, this is impressive," Dean marvelled at the room as he dumped the bags on the bed. It was very unlike the rooms they usually stayed in. It was large and bright with a large double bed and a sofa by the window.

"This is probably the best room you've ever stayed in," Jess joked.

"You joke but you're not wrong," Dean smiled back.

"So, what about sleeping arrangements?"

"You take the bed, I'll sleep on the sofa," he said as he looked around. "I'm gonna do some digging, talk to the widow…"

"And I'll research the previous deaths and try to figure out who this spirit is."

"Do you think it's disturbing that we've got to the point where we can finish each other's sentences?" Dean laughed.

"Yes," was Jess' reply.

"Come on, let's get going," Dean said; once again laughing.

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Rose Foster was inconsolable. She had just lost the love of her life and the last thing she wanted to do was talk to this man and tell him the same thing she had told a million other people.

"Please, I don't really want to talk about this anymore."

"It would help us a lot if you were to," Dean sympathetically put his hand on her arm. "Can you tell me what happened?"

"I went to change in the bathroom and I heard Malcolm scream. When I came out he was dead."

"Do you have any idea who could have done it?"

"I don't, Mal didn't have any enemies and I don't know how anyone could have got in because we locked the door and it was still locked when I found Mal." Rose broke down in tears again.

"Okay, thank you," Dean said. "I didn't mean to upset you anymore."

"It's not your fault, I just miss him so much," she looked at him in the eye. "Do you have someone special in your life?"

"Not as such," he answered.

"There's no-one?"

"Not really."

"You're lying."

"I'm not," he said defensively before adding, "okay there is someone, but I don't think she feels the same about me."

"You won't know if you don't ask," she smiled softly before the tears started to fall again.

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"Did you find anything?" Dean asked Jess when he returned.

"I found a lot," she smiled. Dean allowed himself to lose himself for a moment, staring at how beautiful she looked. His thoughts were broken when he heard, "Dean? Are you listening to a word I'm saying?"

"Huh?"

Jess shook her head before continuing. "I said I found the first death at this place."

"Who was it?"

"Lucy Crawford, she killed herself in this room when she was jilted by her fiancé."

"So, she's killing newlywed husbands because she was jilted?"

"Yep, I talked to the bellboy and he said that the story goes she's trying to spare these women the pain of going through what she went through."

"That makes no sense," Dean said as he sat on the bed and leafed through the newspaper articles about the deaths.

"It does to her; she believes she's doing these women a favour."

"When actually she's causing them pain. Does it say where she's buried?"

"Yes, in the local cemetery, her family have a plot."

"Great, we'll head out tonight."

"Fine, I'm going to take a shower," Jess told him as she made her way to the bathroom. She closed the door, leaned against it and breathed heavily. It was getting harder and harder to ignore her feelings towards Dean. She thought about him almost every second of the day and she didn't know how much longer she could take it. It made her so jealous to watch him flirt with every woman he came across while he treated her more like a little sister. She took another deep breath and prepared to take a shower when she heard Dean yell out in pain and then a loud shot rang out.

Jess hurried out of the room and saw Dean lying on the bed with a knife wound across his chest and a shotgun in his hand.

"Dean," She cried and raced over to him.

"Are you okay?" She asked with a great deal of concern.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Lucy decided she wanted to make you a widow so I shot her with rock salt," Dean grimaced. Jess didn't find the joke funny.

"That's pretty nasty cut; take your shirt off so I can get a better look at it."

Dean gingerly removed his shirt so Jess could tend to his room. The air in his lungs was sucked out of him when her hands made contact with his skin. They were so soft and felt so good on his skin. He gave a hiss of pain when she touched the wound.

"Sorry," she apologised. "It's not deep enough for stitches," she informed him.

"Just get it bandaged then," he said with another wince. "God, that hurts."

"I'll go get some antiseptic."

"And painkillers, don't forget the painkillers."

"I won't," Jess replied as she pulled the first aid kit from the bag. "You ready, this is going to sting," Dean could only grimace in resignation.

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"Bye bye Lucy, can't say I'm sorry to see you go," Dean spoke as he dropped the lit match into Lucy's grave and they watched as her corpse quickly burned. He turned to Jess, "So what do you want to do now?"

"Sleep would be good," she replied.

"How about we enjoy the room we still have for another couple of days?" He grinned.

"What did you have in mind?"

"Watching movies and eating more junk food than the human body can handle."

"Wow, Dean Winchester, you really know how to show a girl a good time," Jess laughed.

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They ended up lying on the bed watching some lame old ghost movie which Dean spent most of the time complaining about the inaccuracies.

"Do you always complain when you watch horror movies?"

"Hey, if a doctor watches a medical film I bet they'd criticise the inaccuracies too."

"Fair enough," she quietly moved closer to Dean, enjoying the warmth of his body. Dean noticed and smiled to himself before leaning over under the pretence of reaching for popcorn.

"Oh come on; that would never happen in real life," he said to the screen as something unbelievable happened. Jess laughed. "What?"

"You just used the words real life in relation to a ghost movie. Most people don't even know this stuff actually exists never mind that it's not accurate."

"But we do."

'Yes," she stopped and thought for a moment. "If I'd seen this a year ago then I would probably be hiding behind a cushion by now," she smiled.

"You were scared at horror movies?" Dean looked over at her.

"Yes, whenever Sam and I would watch one I would always shut my eyes and he'd try to scare me by creeping his hand up my back. He found that extremely funny."

"I bet he did," Dean grinned.

"But now it doesn't scare me at all. I guess I'm just desensitised to it all now."

"Welcome to my world."

"You were never scared by horror movies?"

"Not that I can remember." He looked at Jess and felt the overwhelming urge to kiss her. He lifted his hand and brushed it across her face. Her heart skipped a beat as he lightly touched her face and leaned in closer to him. His lips were mere centimetres away from her face when he pulled away. The TV was flickering.

"What the hell?" He enquired, looking at his watch and noticing it wasn't working.

"Dean, what is it?"

"Something's coming," was his reply. "Soon."

Then there was a bang on the door.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: I will reveal who is behind the door... in the next chapter. This is just a short chapter to see what Sam and Meg have been up to. Thanks for the comments.**

The Seeker Chapter Nine

Sam was bored, so bored he just wanted to go out and kill something. Meg had insisted he stay put while she went to check something out. Now he was sat alone in a room with nothing to keep him company other than a television and now he was psychotically bored. There had been no contact with her for three days now but he wasn't worried. He didn't care if she lived or died, he just wanted to leave this place.

Meg returned a day later, looking rather pleased with herself.

"Where have you been?" Sam growled.

"Doing research," she answered innocently.

"What were you researching?" He had no patience for her games and Meg could tell.

"We have found something of great use to us and we need to obtain it before your meddlesome family do.

"And what would that thing be?"

"A gun; a very important gun."

"And why would this gun be important?"

"The gun is important because we need it for our plans. Also it can kill anything so we need to get it before they do."

"It can kill anything?" Sam sounded surprised.

"Yes. It was made by Samuel Colt, there were thirteen bullets but half a dozen were used before it disappeared. We found out where it is."

"Where is it then?" Sam was now intrigued.

"It's in the possession of Daniel Elkins, you ever heard of him?"

"No."

"Your dad used to know him. Before they had a falling out," she added.

"That doesn't surprise me. He fell out with a lot of people."

"Yes, well, he's been searching for this gun for years; every hunter has, but we know where it is so we need to strike fast."

"What's the plan then?" Meg just smiled.

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Sam stood outside Elkins' cabin watching the old man through the window. Meg was stood next to him, smiling cruelly and patiently waiting to make their move.

"Look at him," she laughed. "He has no idea. This is going to be fun," they made their way to his front door and banged on it loudly. The old man took a few seconds to answer. When he did, Meg flashed her black eyes at him and he tried to slam the door shut but she easily forced it open; hurling Elkins' to the ground.

"Now, now," she spoke in a sing song voice, "shouldn't do that; could hurt a girls feelings."

"You're no girl."

"True; which is why I have no problems with killing you."

"What do you want," he struggled to stand but Sam pushed him back to the ground and held him there.

"The Colt," Sam said. "Where is it?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't lie, we know you have it. Where is it?"

"Like I'd tell you," he spat.

"You know we will find it," Meg told him. "But the quicker you tell us, the quicker and less painful your death will be."

"I will never tell you."

"I was so hoping you would say that," Meg smiled. "Now it's time to have some fun."

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Meg tied Elkins to a chair and proceeded to torture him while Sam turned the room upside down looking for the Colt.

"You'll never find it," Elkins mocked through the screams of pain he gave.

"We will," Meg angrily informed him. "And then I will take great pleasure in ending your life," she continued to hurt him. "Just give it up and it will all be over."

"Never."

"Sam, start checking the other rooms; its here somewhere I know it is." Sam left Meg to her devices and heard Daniel Elkins screams reverberate around the cabin. No matter how hard he searched he could not find the gun, he literally tore the place upside down but it was nowhere in sight.

When the sound of Elkins' screams stopped Meg joined him.

"It's in the safe," she told Sam.

"He told you."

"He did. I knew he would give out eventually."

"So what do we do now?"

"We take the gun and we prepare to fight."


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: The second to last chapter in this story. Thanks for the reviews. **

**The Seeker Chapter Ten**

"Something's coming, soon," Dean told Jess.

Then there was a knock at the door. Jess jumped and Dean quickly leapt to his feet. He moved cautiously towards the door; picking up a gun while the banging continued. He put his hand on the door handle, slowly turned it and gently edged the door open; fully prepared to attack what was on the other side. When the door was half open he looked round and received a shock when his father fell towards him. He threw the door open fully and caught his dad before he collapsed to the floor. He helped him over to the bed and laid him down before taking in what he saw before him.

John had been badly beaten. His face was bruised with blood running down his face from a cut on his forehead. He grabbed his ribs; Dean assumed they were broken or badly bruised at the least.

"Dad, what happened?" He asked as Jess ran to pick up the first aid kit.

"They attacked me."

"Who attacked you?"

"Demons."

"What?"

"They were waiting for me," he gasped in pain as Dean applied antiseptic lotion to his cut. "I went to see an old friend about something that might be able to help us but by the time I'd got there he was dead and the place was crawling with demons."

"What did you go there for?"

"I'd heard that Daniel Elkins had a gun, made by Samuel Colt that is capable of killing anything."

"By anything, do you mean the demon that killed mom?" John nodded.

"I went to see him I was too late; they'd killed him and taken the gun." Dean rubbed his face with his hand and Jess just sat there in silent shock.

"So what happens now?" Dean reluctantly asked.

"We fight back," John told him. "We have to move quickly."

"Dad, no, you're in no condition to fight. We need to go, find somewhere safe and regroup until we can come up with a plan and you can move without wincing in pain."

"No!" John yelled. "We need to act now. If we don't then it'll be too late."

"You'll get yourself killed," Dean argued. John stopped.

"You're right," he agreed. "I'm sorry."

"We need to leave here. They're probably following us; we need to get them off our trail."

"Where do you suggest?"

"We could go to Bobby's, he's not far from here," John gave him a look. "Dad, I know you two fell out, but right now he's our best bet."

"Okay, we'll go to Bobby's."

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John slept in the back of the Impala while Dean drove them all to Bobby's house. He was beat to hell and exhausted so he passed out almost as soon as they set off. Jess sat quietly in the passenger seat, Dean had noticed that she had barely spoken since John had shown up.

"Are you okay?" He asked her.

"Yes," she replied before, "no." Dean gave her a reassuring smile. "I'm just feeling a little overwhelmed and very scared."

"I am too."

"It's bad isn't it? That the demons got the gun?" Dean nodded solemnly. "What are we going to do?"

"I don't know," he answered honestly. "I have no idea what the hell to do. All I can do is get us to Bobby's and hope we can come up with a solution."

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Bobby was surprised when he saw the Impala pulling up and Dean carrying his injured father towards the house followed by a scared looking woman. He banged on the door and Bobby went to answer it.

"Hi," Dean greeted Bobby grimly. Bobby helped him carry his father inside.

"What the hell happened?" He demanded.

"Demons," was the only answer Dean needed to give. "They attacked him."

"Come on, let's get him laid down."

When they had made John comfortable they congregated in the living room and Dean gave an abbreviated account of everything that had happened over the last year. He told Bobby of Sam's disappearance, of John's vanishing act and Meg and the theft of the Colt. Bobby stood there silently for a moment taking it all in.

"Why the hell didn't you come to me sooner, I could've helped."

"I didn't know if we'd be welcome, not after the last time."

"None of that matters, you needed help so you shoulda come."

"I know, I'm sorry. We really could use your help though."

"You know I'll help you. Where do you wanna start?"

"I have no idea."

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They searched through Bobby's numerous books for hours without finding anything that could help them.

"This is useless," Dean exclaimed as he closed another book and placed it on top of a huge pile on the table. "We're getting nowhere."

"My eyes hurt," Jess complained. "If I have to look at another word I think I'm going to go crazy." Dean gave a small laugh and pulled her into a hug.

"You want coffee?" He asked,

"That'd be good, thanks."

Dean made his way into the kitchen to make the coffee when his phone rang. He answered it and got another shock when he heard who was on the other end.

"Dean? Dean is that you?" The reception was poor.

"Sam?" He cried out. "Sammy, where are you?"

"Dean, you have to help me. They're after me; I don't know how much longer I can hold out."

"Sammy," Dean exclaimed as Jess and Bobby ran into the kitchen. "Sammy, you have to tell me where you are and I'll come and get you, okay?"

"I don't know. I don't know where I am. I can't remember… anything. The last few months are all black."

"Is there anything that could help you remember where you are?"

"It's so small. The town is so small. I'm in a motel, Dean you have to help me. I'm scared."

"It's okay Sammy, I'm gonna come get you. Don't worry I'll find you," he said as the phone reception was lost. "Sammy? Sammy?" He cried before hanging up.

"Dean?" Jess asked; concern etched on her face.

"It was Sam. He called and he needs our help."

"Did he say where he was?"

"No, but I think I know where. That town where he was last seen, I said that I thought he never left well now I'm sure of it. He's still there and we have to go and get him."

"When do we leave?"

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Dean insisted that John stayed with Bobby to recover a little and wouldn't take no for an answer. He even went as far as threatening to tie John to the bed in order to stop him. They had a long journey to make and John was in no condition to make the journey let alone be prepared to fight.

They were silent for most of the journey. There was an excited yet terrified kind of tension between them. They had spent an entire year searching for him without any hope and now it seemed like it was finally coming to an end. They were excited to be finding him but they were terrified about what would happen next.

It was dark by the time they arrived. Dean parked right in front of the motel where Sam had last been seen and they made their way to the room where Meg had been staying. Dean banged on the door and waited until the door opened and a scared looking Sam poked his head out.

"Dean," he said as he threw the door wide open. "You came."

"Yeah, I said I would. Come on we have to get out of here."

"Okay," he spoke quietly and allowed Dean to lead him out of the room where he saw Jess. "Jess!" He called out happily as he threw himself at her and pulled her into a hug. "You're okay."

"Yeah, I'm fine," she reassured him. "Come on, we have to get you somewhere safe," she grabbed his hand and led him to the car.

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Dean drove for several hours more, until it was morning, before he felt safe enough to stop and find a motel to rest. He was completely exhausted; he hadn't slept since John showed up and he wanted nothing more than to crawl into bed and sleep for an eternity. Sam had slept in the back seat for the entire journey and when Jess went to check them into a room, Dean was left to rouse him.

"Sam, wake up, we're here."

"Where are we?" He asked sleepily.

"A motel. Come on, you can sleep when we get inside." He helped Sam into the room and deposited him on one of the beds.

"Are you hungry?" He asked.

"Yeah, I can't remember the last time I ate."

"I'll go get some food," Jess volunteered before leaving Sam and Dean alone.

"How long was I gone?" Sam asked.

"You were gone a year."

"A year? It only seems like a couple of weeks. There's so much I've missed."

"Yeah, can you tell me what happened? What do you remember?"

"I remember Meg. We met and hung out for a couple of days. Then it all goes black for a while. I think she drugged me."

"Meg's a demon," Dean explained. "She wanted you for some reason."

"Why?"

"I'm not sure exactly why. But you're obviously important to her or she wouldn't have kept you hidden for a year."

"I guess. I wish I could remember more."

"It doesn't matter," Dean told him quietly. "All that matters is that you're alive and okay. I missed you."

"I missed you too. All I wanted was for you to find me."

"We spent an entire year looking for you but we didn't know where you were. But you have to know we never gave up on you."

"I know," he looked at the floor intently for a moment. "So, you brought Jess along?"

"Yeah, she kinda insisted. She's scary when she wants to be," Dean laughed.

"Yeah, she is," Sam laughed too. "You don't want to cross her."

"I learned that from first hand experience."

"How'd she take all the supernatural stuff?"

"She was freaked at first, but she learns quickly. She saved my ass more than a few times."

"And kicked it too, I bet."

"That as well."

"She missed you so much," he told Sam.

"She did?" Sam sounded surprised.

"Yeah, she wanted nothing more than to find you. She had nightmares for months after you disappeared."

"What were they about?"

"She wouldn't tell me most of the time, but she did say once they were sometimes of you dying."

"I shouldn't have left her. I should have stayed to protect her."

"It doesn't matter now," Dean said as his phone began to ring. "Hold on a minute, I have to answer this." Sam nodded in acknowledgement. "Hey Bobby, what's up? What? You're kidding me. When? A couple of hours ago. Do you know where he went? Okay, I'll keep an eye out. You'll call if you hear anything? Okay, bye."

"What did Bobby want?"

"Dad's disappeared again. He went to check on him and he was gone."

"Where'd he go?" Sam asked his voice panicked and urgent.

"He doesn't know. He said he'd call if he found him."

"Okay," he relaxed slightly. "Hey Dean, do you mind if I took a shower?"

"Sam, you don't have to ask. Go take a shower. You smell anyway."

"Shut up," he defensively joked. "I do not smell."

"Dude, you so do," They both laughed as Sam closed the bathroom door behind him and he immediately turned angry.

He was furious at Dean, he was obviously lying to his face about Jess and he desperately wanted to make them both suffer. As quietly as he could, he removed the pipe from under the sink and prepared to make his move. He silently opened the bathroom door and saw that Dean had his back to him. He sneaked up behind Dean and brought the pipe down on him. He gave a cry of shock and pain as he fell into unconsciousness. Sam gave an evil smile.

Jess came back from the diner bringing as much food as she could carry. She had been so happy to see Sam again but she still had a feeling that something was wrong. Balancing the bag of food in one hand, she opened the door with another and walked into the room. She dropped the bag on the floor when she saw Dean lying on the floor.

"DEAN!" She cried as she leaned down to check how he was. He was out cold. "Dean, wake up," she begged as tears started to fall down her cheeks.

She never even noticed Sam as he hit her with the same pipe he had hit Dean with.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: This is the last chapter in this story. But I am writing a sequel called the Hunter.**

**The Seeker Chapter Eleven**

Dean's head felt as if it was on fire. As he awoke, he tried to open his eyes but immediately shut them again as a blinding pain shot through him and he felt nauseous. He gave a loud groan and breathed heavily to avoid vomiting. When the wave of nausea passed he opened his eyes; slower this time, blinking several times to focus his vision and took in his surroundings. He found himself tied to one of the beds, so tight he couldn't free himself. He turned his head to the side and saw Jess tied to the other bed, still unconscious.

"You're awake," he heard a cold voice said. He turned his head and saw Sam sat in a chair in front of the two of them. He had obviously waiting for one of them to wake up.

"Sam?" Dean was having a hard time processing everything. He couldn't figure out what was happening. "What's going on?"

"I've been waiting a long time for this."

"What?"

"Are you dense?" He coldly asked. "I said I've been waiting a long time for this." He stood up and moved so he was leaning over his brother. "You disgust me."

"Sam, what's going on?" Dean asked, closing his eyes for a moment to ease his aching head.

"Can't you see? I've tied you to a bed."

"Why?"

"So I can have a little fun with the two of you," he said as he slammed his fist into Dean's stomach. Dean gave a cry of pain as the wind was knocked out of him. Sam smiled maliciously and repeated the action until he heard Jess waking up. "Welcome back," he said as he turned to face her.

"Sam, what's happening?"

"At the minute? I'm hurting my brother. We're having fun aren't we?"

"Go to hell," Dean gasped, trying his hardest not to throw up.

"Oh, don't be like that. Don't listen to him," he said to Jess; "we've been having so much fun while you've been out. Now; since you're both awake, we're all going to have a nice little chat about what you've been up to while I've been gone," he returned to his seat.

"Why don't you tell us what you've been doing," Jess angrily shouted at him.

"Don't worry, we'll get to that soon but we're going to start with you since you're the ones tied up. So, what have you both been up to?"

"Looking for you," Jess answered.

"But that's not all is it? You see, I've been hearing things that have made me rather upset." The tone of Sam's voice worried Jess and Dean greatly. He kept it light but there was a menacing undertone which scared them both. "Do you want to tell me what that is? Dean, you haven't said anything for a while why don't you answer?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," he replied as there was a knock at the door.

"Hold that thought," Sam said as he moved to answer the door. It was Meg.

"Having fun?" She asked Sam.

"We're just getting started."

"I have a present for you," she smiled sweetly.

"Really?"

"Yes, do you want to see?" Sam nodded and Meg disappeared for a moment before throwing John through the door onto to ground, unconscious and bound at the wrists and ankles. "You like?"

"I do. Everybody's here now, the party can really get started." He turned back to a terrified looking Dean who was struggling frantically to free himself. Sam laughed, as he picked up a knife from Dean's bag and plunged it into his right arm. "Stop struggling," he said as Dean cried in pain. "Let's get back to the more pressing issue at hand, your antics during my disappearance."

"I don't know what you're talking about. What the hell happened to you, why are you acting so evil?"

"It's all because of you and Jess. See, I know what you've been up to and it really pissed me off. You say you have no idea what I'm talking about so why don't I remind you," he pulled something out of his pocket, unfolded it and shoved it in Dean's face. It was the photograph of the shapeshifter kissing him.

"Sam," he groaned, "it's not what you think."

"Not what I think. See I think it's a photograph of you kissing my girlfriend."

"It wasn't Jess," he explained. "It was a Shapeshifter."

"Now why don't I believe you?"

"He's right, Sam," Jess told him. "We've never kissed."

"I said I don't believe you."

"You're right not to believe them," Meg told him. "They probably lasted all of ten seconds before jumping into bed with each other."

"I think you're right. I think they need to be punished."

"Sam, don't listen to her," Dean begged. "She's lying."

"Shut up!" Sam yelled as he stabbed him again, this time in the side. He laughed as Dean cried again in more pain this time. "You have nothing to say that I'm going to believe. Let me tell you how this is going to go; I am going to torture you until I get bored, which is probably going to be until you die. Then I will do the same to Jess and I am going to have so much fun. How does that sound?"

"Sam. Don't," was all Dean could manage to say.

"Well, I think it's a good plan," Sam said as he gagged his brother before continuing to muffle his screams.

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John awoke to the sound of his eldest son's muffled screaming. He had left Bobby's only to be attacked by Meg and knocked out. Now he was lying on the floor of a motel room watching his son being tortured by his brother. He struggled against his bonds to try to free himself but they were too tight.

"I've been waiting so patiently to kill you," Sam said in a whimsical tone to Dean. "Meg said that you would all interfere with their plans and that's why you had to die but I just wanted revenge."

"Please stop this Sam," Jess said quietly.

"How about no? I'm not going to stop, it's just too much fun," he told her as he opened his brother's shirt and sliced his chest with the knife. He amused himself by covering Dean's chest in shallow cuts and watching them bleed. Dean was too weak by now to do much other than lie there feebly protest.

"Sam. If you're going to kill us tell me one thing," she said trying to buy a little time.

"What?"

"Why did you leave? You just disappeared; one minute you were there and the next you were gone and I want to know why."

"What does it matter?"

"It matters because I spent the last year worrying for your safety and spending every night praying that you were okay and not dead somewhere," she angrily told him.

"I left because of you," he said quietly.

"What? What did I do?"

"I was having dreams where you died. I left because I thought I was protecting you, but what do you go and do? You jump on my brother."

"I did not do anything with Dean."

"Don't pay any attention to her, Sam, she's lying," Meg told him.

"I'm inclined to agree with Meg as she has been nothing but honest with me. She helped me."

"How did she help you?"

"She helped me realise my true potential. Made me see that the dreams were nothing to be frightened of and I should embrace my gifts. She made me see that I was special."

"Special?" Jess was confused.

"Yes, there are others like me. He chose us."

"For what?"

"If I tell you then it'll ruin the surprise. Now where were we? Oh yes killing."

"Please Sam, just stop."

"I will when you're both dead."

"Sam," Meg said to get his attention. "Daddy's awake," she informed him.

"Good, he should get to watch his son die. I'm just surprised he managed to escape that demon attack alive," Sam left Dean's side and kneeled down beside his father. "I wish I could have seen your face when you realised you were too late, that we had got the Colt first."

"Sam, what happened to you?" John weakly asked.

"I'm just tapping into all my potential."

"You shouldn't be doing this."

"What? I should be in college, but you didn't want that for me. You wanted me to stay with the family and continue hunting. Well I am hunting just not for demons or ghosts."

"They've been lying to you Sam. They're using you for their own ends. Once they're through with you they'll kill you."

"So?"

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Sam had mostly ignored Jess as the brunt of his wrath had been directed at Dean. Meg had been concentrating on John. She had managed to loosen one of the ropes on her wrist and was desperately trying to untie the other one. As Sam and Meg mocked and tortured John and Dean, Jess worked at freeing herself. She was scared, more scared than she had ever been in her life. Dean's screams made her want to cry but she was determined not to. She had to be strong for him so she could get him out of here.

She managed to untie the second rope without being seen and quietly moved to untie her ankles. She silently moved to pick up the pipe Sam had discarded earlier and tried to hit Sam. Unfortunately; Sam knew exactly what she was planning and turned just as she was bringing the pipe down on his head. He grabbed her wrist tightly and twisted it until she dropped it.

"That wasn't a very good idea was it?" He mockingly asked her as he tightened his grip on her wrist. She screamed loudly as she heard it snap.

Meg laughed. "That's what happens when you get on the wrong side of Sam."

"Screw you!" She yelled. Sam threw her against the wall and she crumpled to the floor; crying in pain.

"Now where we? Oh yes, killing Dean."

"I hate to interrupt your fun, Sam, but we really should be going," Meg whispered to him. "All this noise has probably alerted someone and they'll have called the cops."

"Damn it," he complained, angry at being stopped and having to leave.

"Besides, we have work to do and it's not going to get done if we're here torturing."

"You're right," he reluctantly admitted. "What are we going to do with them?"

"I have an idea," she said as she pulled the Colt from the waistband of her jeans. She pointed it at John.

"Don't let her do this Sam," John begged. "Don't let her kill me."

"I think it would be fun. Can I shoot him Sam?"

"Do whatever the hell you like," he told Meg as he walked out of the motel room, angry that he had to go. She smiled evilly as she cocked the gun.

"I hope you burn in hell," John told her.

"I hope you do too," she said as she pulled the trigger. She heard Dean and Jess cry out as she walked away.

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Jess pulled herself up from the floor, crying heavily; with her arm clutched close to her chest and moved to untie Dean as she heard the police sirens. Her arm hurt like hell but she knew that was nothing compared to the pain Dean was in. He had been badly tortured and his father had just been murdered in front of him. She pulled the gag from his mouth and moved to unfasten the ropes.

"Dean, are you okay?" She pathetically asked. Dean didn't answer; he only gave a whimper of physical and emotional pain.

"Hello?" A man banged on the door. "Police, open up."

"Help," Jess cried. "Please help." She made no move to open the door so the policeman broke it down.

"Ma'am, is everything okay?" One policeman went over to Jess and Dean as the other made his way over to John's body.

"Please help us."

"Can you tell me what happened?" The cop asked as he finished untying Dean.

"They attacked us. She killed John."

"He's dead," the other cop confirmed.

"She shot him. She had a gun and she shot him dead," Jess cried. She was so exhausted she just wanted to fall asleep and to never wake up.

"We're going to get you to a hospital, okay?" Jess dumbly nodded. "What happened to your friend?"

"He was mad at us. He wanted to hurt us so he tortured him. He had a knife," she sobbed.

"It's okay, you're going to be okay," he reassured her.

"No it's not," she told him.

Things were going to get much, much worse.


End file.
